Banana Streusal Muffins w/Caramel Glaze

I'm pretty sure I've already stated several times that using bananas in baking is one of my favorites and banana-themed recipes are becoming sort of a trend in my blog. Soooo..why not add another! This recipe comes close to a tie in my book for being as good as the banana bars recipe I have posted. (Close and not equal only because my mom always makes the banana bars, so they are extra special:)) But, these are definately my fav muffins now!

This recipe comes from over at Krista's Kitchen blog. Which, by the way, is an awesome blog that you should really check out! (She's great. Has meal plans and everything with simple, but really, really good recipes!) Anyway...she said she based the glaze for this recipe off of a glaze she uses for her banana bars. After making these muffins, I can't wait to try making her bars!

I'm just going to post my pictures below and you can click here to get the recipe!
Oh! PS: Try to resist completely scraping the glaze bowl clean and licking the spoon, spatula, or anything else that the glaze is on...I couldn't! It's THAT good :P

Coconut Banana Bread with Lime Glaze

Put the lime in the coconut and...make banana bread?? Here is a recipe for banana bread with a twist..of lime. It sounds interesting, but if you are a fan of coconut you will definately enjoy this moist quick bread. This recipe makes a tall, large loaf that is very moist and filled with the sweetness of coconut and banana. The glaze is really good when the bread is fresh and gives it a sweet sort of tang on top.

*While baking, I decided to leave the bread in the oven about 10 mins longer than called for, because it was still pretty gooey inside. Even when I took the bread out I was worried it was undercooked, but once it cooled it was the perfect moistness.
Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)
1/4 cup plain low-fat yogurt (I used light sour cream instead)
3 tablespoons dark rum
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup flaked sweetened coconut
Cooking spray
1 tablespoon flaked sweetened coconut
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime or lemon juice
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Lightly spoon the flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife.
3. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk to combine.
4. Place granulated sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 1 minute).

5. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.

6. Add banana, yogurt, rum, and vanilla; beat until blended.
7. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist.

8. Stir in 1/2 cup coconut.

9. Spoon batter into a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray; sprinkle with 1 tablespoon coconut.

10. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. (I baked about 10 minutes longer, because I was worried the middle was too gooey)
Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan.

See what I mean by a large, tall loaf! (I had to move it to the top rack because it was rising up into the above rack).

For Glaze: Combine powdered sugar and juice, stirring with a whisk; drizzle over warm bread. Cool bread completely on wire rack.

Nutrit. Info:

Makes 16 Servings

Calories- 193, Fat-4.5g, Protein-2.9g, Carb- 35g, Sodium-179 mg

Makeover Banana Bars

A banana recipe? What a shocker. These bars are aaaamazing! Use this recipe next time you have a few over-ripe bananas lying around.. you won't be sorry. I brought a few of these to the dental office I worked @ today and everyone loved them! They are really moist with a creamy, sweet cream cheese frosting. The recipe comes from the Healthy Cooking Taste of Home Magazine and is one we make often at my house. Whenever I bring these anywhere, I often get asked for the recipe. YUM
MAKES 3 DOZEN
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons butter, softened
1-1/2 cups sugar (I used half sugar, half Splenda)
2 eggs (I used 1/2 c egg beaters)
1-1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 medium)
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
Dash salt
FROSTING:
**I made half of the frosting and it was plenty! What is below is the full batch**
1 package (8 ounces) reduced-fat cream cheese
1/3 cup butter, softened
3 cups confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Directions:
1.In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until crumbly, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the bananas, applesauce and vanilla.














2.Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; stir into butter mixture just until blended.














3.Transfer to a 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan coated with cooking spray.
4. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack.














5.For frosting, in a small bowl, beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add confectioners' sugar and vanilla; beat until smooth. Frost bars. Refrigerate leftovers.

Banana Stuffed French Toast w/Nutmeg Sauce

I told you I reeeaally like bananas:) I have often made stuffed french toast similar to this one, but just alter the fruit filling each time. For this recipe I wanted to make the Nutmeg sauce that I remembered learning how to make in High school home ec class..so I came up with this similar sauce from scanning different recipes on the internet.

When I made the stuffed french toast this time, I think there was too much cream cheese filling, so for the recipe I will halve the amt used.
MAKES 3 SERVINGS (Random # of servings, but made it for my parents and I)
Ingredients:
FRENCH TOAST-
6 slices whole wheat bread
1/2 c egg beaters
1/4 c egg whites
1/4 c skim milk
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 cups crushed cereal (I use rice krispies b/c it's what we had-can opt for corn flakes)
FILLING-
2 oz fat free cream cheese
2 oz 1/3 less fat cream cheese
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 T milk
1/4 c splenda
Sliced bananas (2-3)
SAUCE-
1/4 c butter
1/4 c packed brown sugar
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon
Directions:
For Filling:
1. Soften both cream cheeses.
2. Add milk, vanilla, splenda.
3. Stir to combine; set aside.
4. Slice bananas; set aside.
For french toast:
**Preheat griddle to 350 degrees.
1. Place cereal in ziploc baggie. Crush w/ rolling pin.
2. In shallow bowl, combine egg, milk, vanilla, cinnamon for the toast egg wash.
3. Dip bread first in egg, then in cereal.




























4. Place toast on griddle.
5. Grill one side until golden brown, then flip.














For sauce:
(This only takes a couple minutes, so wait until one side of french toast slices are browned to start heating the sauce).
6. While french toast is browning, place small saucepan on stove top and add butter, brown sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon.














7. Over low heat, melt mixture; stirring often.
8. Once fresh toast is browned, remove from griddle and spread cream cheese mixture on one piece.
9. Layer banana sliced over cream cheese.
10. Top w/ second piece of french toast.














11. Slice
12. Drizzle with sauce, sliced bananas, powdered sugar.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

This recipe comes from the Lifetime TV show Cook Yourself Thin.
Can you tell Trevor and I like chocolate chip muffins? 2 of my first 6 recipes are chocolate chip muffins..(Not to mention I had a c.c. muffin flop in there that I chose not to post haha)

Both these and the zucchini muffins I put on here earlier are winners. Of course I modified this recipe b/c there were WAAAY too few chocolate chips in the recipe..I guess that's why it was on a Cook Yourself Thin show :/...It only called for a total of 2 T chocolate chips to sprinkle on the tops of the muffins. Are you kidding me? So I chose to put dark chocolate chips in the batter and then sprinkled some mini chocolate chips on top. Muuuch better.
Ingredients:
1 c all-purp flour
1 c whole wheat flour
1/2 rolled oats
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 ripe banana, mashed
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 c brown sugar, packed
2 T vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 1/4 c reduced fat buttermilk (I didn't have any so used 1 T vinegar+skim milk instead)
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 c chocolate chips (can sprinkle w/mini chips if desired)
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400
2. In large bowl, combine flours, oats, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt + mashed banana. Blend on low 2 mins
3. Add walnuts, brown sugar, oil, eggs, buttermilk and stir to combine.
4. Add vanilla and stir.
5. Use ice cream scoop to portion the muffins out into the tin. Bake for 15 mins. Remove and let cool.

Makin' Banana Pancakes

Makin' Banana Pancakes, Pretend That It's The Weekend NOW!

First off, let me just say this for the record. .Bananas are definately my favorite food in the entire world! I usually eat a banana every day, or something with banana in it. YUM. Most say that's a weird fav food, but I can't get enough. Ok, ok...Banana and chocolate are my TWO fav foods. Put them together and I'm in heaven.

This banana pancake recipe comes from the Hungry Girl Cookbook series. They are made with whole wheat flour and are very low in calories/fat. (I promise you can't tell!)
These pancakes use whole wheat flour so are a good source of fiber and get a sweet flavor from cinnamon, vanilla, and Splenda. Speaking of Splenda...I have mixed feelings right now about using artificial sweeteners in recipes. I was hooked when they first came out, but try not to use them as often as I once did. (I used to sprinkle it on everything!) Soo..in this recipe feel free to use sugar or a brown sugar mix instead, as it does not call for much sweetener at all.















Ingredients:
1 c whole wheat flour
1 c mashed ripe banana
1 c Egg Beaters (you can use real eggs if preferred, these are just lower in fat/cals)
1/2 c light vanilla soymilk or skim milk
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
4 Splenda sweetening packets, or about 4 tsp of sugar if preferred over artificial sweetener
A few dashes salt
A few dashes cinnamon to taste (I like a lot)
--I also serve mine w/sugar free maple syrup, chopped walnuts, and banana slices that I briefly cook on the griddle while the pancakes are browning.
MAKES 4 SERVINGS
Directions:
1. In a small bowl, combine all dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, sweetener, salt, cinnamon) and mix well.
2. In a seperate medium bowl, mash banana and mix all wet ingredients in (egg, soymilk, vanilla) and mix well.
3. Add dry and wet together; mix well.
4. Heat large pan or griddle and spray w/non- stick spray to medium heat. Pour batter on cooking surface to form 12 pancakes. Cook until underside is slightly browned, then Flip! Cook until other side is browned and pancakes are cooked through.
5. Throw 'em on a plate and serve w/ warmed syrup, chopped walnuts, banana slices or your own combination of the 3.

Nutrit. Info:
**This is not including walnuts or banana slices
**And of course stats will be different if sugar or eggs are used instead of their alternatives
PER SERVING: 185 cals, 1g fat, 343mg sodium, 37g carb, 5g fiber, 7.5g sugar, 9.5gprotein